2010 Year in Review

A lot has happened this year.. Some good (1 year wedding anniversary, 30th birthday, birth of my first nephew) some not good (hospitalization and death of my father in law, ever present financial issues), but we survived it and made it through.

This year was a pretty good one from a fitness stand point for me.  In April I managed to hit two big milestones back to back, first my weight dropped under 300 pounds, and a few weeks later I hit 50 pounds of weight loss (dating back to October 2009), and I continued that to my current loss of 65 pounds.  I’ve hit a major plateau at 285 pounds which I’ve been holding steady at for the last several months, but the New Year brings with it new opportunities.

I participated in 3 races this year.  I had hoped to do more than that but for various reasons of scheduling, timing, weather etc there were other races I was not able to do.   I walked/ran three 5K races in April, May and October with a personal record of 44 min 55 seconds, and an average of the three of around 46 minutes.   This is right at a 15 minute mile pace, which is 4 miles an hour.

I’ve stated in earlier posts that I had a goal for March 2011 to be my first half marathon.  This is currently up in the air, since they decided to move the next North Carolina Marathon, which will not be held until November 2011.

What will 2011 bring? Stay tuned to find out.

The Bucket List

This is a post I’ve been working on for a while but haven’t been able to post since I suffered through an extended period with no internet access (one down side to moving, but our new house is very nice in a very nice neighborhood).

My good friend Amanda has a post on her blog of the 101 in 1001 list.  The purpose of the list is to give you a set time period to accomplish the goals (although longer than the 1 year of a New Years resolution, it’s a little less than three years), but not be just a vague infinite list like a bucket list.

I tried to fill one out for myself and could only come up with about 10 things to put on it, but I had a lot more long term type things I wanted to do in my life so I decided to come up with my one “vague, long term” bucket list.  These are things I would like to accomplish within the next, oh say, 50 years.  And some of them are already in progress.

1. Travel to All 50 States – (In Progress).  Current Progress – North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Ohio, Wisconsin, Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, Michigan, Tennessee (15/50 + Washington DC). Caveat: Airplane layovers don’t count so Denver(CO), Chicago (ILL) and New York(NY) don’t count yet.  Hawaii (which my wife has no desire to visit) and Alaska (which we do want to visit but will be very expensive) will be the hardest two to cash in, as well as a few of the states that you have to wonder what there is to do there, like North Dakota and Idaho.

2. Attend an NFL Football game:  I have attended professional baseball games (Atlanta Braves and minors), professional basketball games (Charlotte Hornets as a kid) and professional hockey games (Carolina Hurricanes).  Football is the last of the 4 “big” pro sports I haven’t attended.  I’ve been to Panther’s stadium for a college game (NC State vs UNC) but not for a pro game.

3. Visit as many Civil War battlefields as possible – (In progress). Current Progress: Gettysburg, PA; Petersburg, VA; Fort Sumter, SC; Bentonville, NC; Averasboro, NC; Old Fort Jackson and Fort Pulaski, Savannah, GA; Fort Fisher, Wilmington, NC; Tops on the list of next to visit: Harper’s Ferry, Fredricksburg,Chancellorsville, Appomatax.

4. Own a significant piece of Civil War memorabilia – Something more than just buttons and bullets, which are awesome, but something a little bigger, like a pistol, rifle stock, uniform pieces, hat, cartridge box etc.  Something that would be very unique (and likely very expensive).  Something that I would likely loan to a museum so it could be displayed.  Bonus points if it belongs to a North Carolina unit, which is where I have lived all my life, or a South Carolina artillery unit which is where my ancestors served.

5. Run a half-marathon:  This is tentatively scheduled for March 2011 at the North Carolina marathon. I’ve been lazy in my training lately with moving to the new house and working 50 hour weeks, so I need to whip myself back into shape before this one.

6. Run the Disney Marathon: This may or may not be my first full marathon when it comes around to it, and I may run the Disney Half first to kinda gauge the event.  We’ll see when I get to do this one.  Jan 2012? Jan 2013?

7. Stop renting and own my own home.  Hopefully after our 2 year lease on this rental house is up this may become a reality.

8. Travel overseas and actually use my passport which is collecting dust:  My wife was born in Germany and living in Turkey while her father was in the military and she is dying to take me (and our future children) to both Turkey and Germany to visit.

9. Visit the hockey hall of fame in Toronto.  Mecca for the hockey fan this is a trip that will be pretty epic.  A picture next to Ron Francis’s bust and the Stanley cup (wearing my Canes jersey of course) will be a requirement.

I’m sure I will add more to this list, but this is a good start.